by Tiffany Nguyen

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2013-01-04T23:29:00.001-08:00

It's been a while blog world. A goal of mine for 2013 is to blog more. I hope everyone had a great holiday with friends and family!

Here's a picture from a roommates and friends dinner to hold you over until my next real post =).

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Corn & Avocado Salsa

2011-09-26T20:19:00.000-07:00

The other week I made some corn and avocado salsa with my left over oven roasted corn.

Ingredients:

1/4 onion

1/2 lime

1/2 jalapeno

1 tomato

1 avocado

1 1/2 ears of corn

pinch of seasoning salt & pepper

1. Chop up half an onion and squeezed the juice of 1/2 a lime over the onion to let it mellow out.

2. Then add 1 chopped up tomato.

3. Add your corn.

4. Add chopped up avocado

5. Add some jalapeno if you like.

6. Season with seasoning salt and pepper.

7. Mix up ingredients and enjoy.

I had my salsa with some rice for a quick and delicious meal.

Tet Trung Thu & Mooncake

2011-09-12T21:34:00.000-07:00

Tet Trung Thu otherwise known as Mid-Autumn Festival or Moon Festival, is a festival held on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. In Vietnamese culture, people use this day to focus on their family and their children. It was thought that children were ignored as their parents prepared for harvest each year, so the day was for parents to show their love towards their children. Children would often make laterns where they parade around under the full moon.

Nowadays, families will focus on children, their education, and their future. The story of the carp that tried to turn into a dragon is often told to encourage children that they can do anything they believe they can do. In my family, my mother would set out a bowl of water, mooncake, and incense each year. After the incense would finish burning and the water had fully absorbed the light of the full moon, the water apparently had great power. My mom would have my brother and me wash our faces with the water and she'd sprinkle it over our heads with a flower she'd pick from our garden. She said the water was to bring us luck and success in our future endeavors. I've tried to mimick my mom's tradition since I've been away from home and I ask my roommates to participate. I'm not quite sure how amazing moon water magic is, but we all need something to believe in.

Makeshift Moonwater

My sad picture of the full moon

Mooncakes are traditionally eaten during Tet Trung Thu. They are often square and filled with lotus seed paste and contain one salted duck egg to represent the full moon. The top will have Chinese characters for longevity and the name of the bakery imprinted. Mooncakes are considered a delicacy and are usually not made at home and only eaten on special occassions. I often recall mooncakes from the book, The Good Earth, because of their explanation of the delicacy.

2 types of mooncake

Pretty imprint

Nice golden yolk

Yum!

Have a great Tet Trung Thu everyone!

Perfect Boiled Eggs for Deviled Eggs

2011-09-07T23:26:00.000-07:00

Tonight some of the girls in my class planned a Napa night for all the girls to hang out, eat, and drink wine. When thinking of an easy appetizer to make deviled eggs came to mind. I've always wanted to try to make the perfect boiled egg and I think my attempt was a success.

Fill a pot with a dozen eggs and cold water covering about an inch over the top of the eggs.

Bring the water to a boil then turn off the heat.

Cover the pot and let sit for 12 minutes. The shorter amount of time you leave your eggs in the covered pot, the more runny your eggs will be. Remember not to leave the eggs covered over 12 minutes or they may overcook and develop that ugly gray color around the yolk.

After 12 minutes, dump the hot water and add cold water to the pot.

Start peeling your eggs!

You can test your first egg by cutting it in half to make sure the yolk is at the consistency you like.

You can see in the picture above that I had let the eggs sit in the hot water a little too long, causing them to cook more and turning a light yellow color instead of the vibrant yellow as my first egg. In any case, cut all your eggs in half.

Remove the egg yolks from the whites using a spoon if necessary.

To the yolks you will need to do the following. Add 4 tbsp of mayonaise. Add 2 tbsp of mustard. Sprinkle seasoning salt, cracked pepper, chili powder, and paprika to taste.

Combine the seasonings with the egg yolk.

Put the egg yolk mixture back into the egg white halves and sprinkle with some extra paprika. Enjoy!

Elote

2011-09-06T19:38:00.000-07:00

Even though I grew up in the San Fernando Valley, I had only been introduced to elote or mexican corn recently. I still have yet to have the real version from a cart on the streets, but here's my take on it.

The best time to buy corn is in the summer time when it's on sale at the mexican market 5 for $1. I feel like such a sucker for shelling out $4 for a corn on the cob at the OC fair recently.

Peel most of the husk off of the corn and wash thoroughly. You want to keep a thin layer on the corn as a protective layer in the oven.

Place the corn directly on the rack in a 350 degree oven. Roast the corn for 35 minutes or until tender with a fork.

Once roasted, pull back the husk on the corn and remove all the hair.

You'll need butter, mayonaise, chili, lime, and cotija. I decided to skip the butter and you can change up these steps to use whatever you like best. Rub the corn with butter, spread mayonaise, sprinkle with cotija, sprinkle with chili, and squeeze a lime over the entire thing.

Your end result should look like so. A great part to any summer bbq if you have a grill or great indoors with the oven too!

Bruxie

2011-09-05T01:04:00.000-07:00

My cousin had her orientation for her new school in Orange County a few weeks ago, so the rest of the clan decided to meet up with her that day for some Bruxie. Bruxie takes a nice twist on your ordinary sandwich by switching up bread for waffles. It is nestled at the end of a strip of shops in Old Towne Orange and across the street from Chapman college. The line wasn't as long as it can get, but it's probably given the fact that we arrived at 6pm instead of 7pm. Parking in the area can be tricky on weekends because the parking lot is so small you have to find street parking. Also, there is limited outdoor seating, but we were lucky enough to grab a table during our visit. After you order at the stand your order will be brought to your table.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken & Waffl

Steven chose the Buttermilk Fried Chicken & Waffle. He said he enjoyed his waffle, but it wasn't as great as everyone says it is in my opinion. I had the same sandwich a few months ago and I felt that it was missing something. Possibly because I was too frugal to spring for the extra syrup? Who knows.


Bruxie Burger

Mint Shake

Kim opted for the Bruxie Burger. I believe this burger usually comes with cheese, but Kim likes her burgers without. She also had a mint shake, which she shared with us. I love mint chip ice cream so I definitely enjoyed her shake.

Proscuitto and Gruyere

I got the proscuitto and gruyere and I liked it a lot. The waffle was very crunchy and the gruyere set off the saltiness of the proscuitto very nicely. My waffle was probably the ugliest one to photograph and least eligible for food porn. I also got the waffle fries, which were also very good, but on the salty side. I wish they offered other condiments for dipping besides ketchup and sriracha.

Roasted Mushroom and Goat Cheese.

Tracy got the roasted mushroom and goat cheese waffle. I didn't get a chance to try hers, but it was probably the most photogenic of the bunch.

Green Eggs & Ham

Jenny and I shared halfsies of our waffle sandwiches so I got the chance to try this deliciousness. I would say that this is my favorite waffle out of all the savory waffles. It can definitely be enjoyed any time of the day and the pesto sauce to make the eggs green, definitely adds a lot of great flavor.

Strawberry Creme Brulee Waffle

Lastly, we all shared the strawberry creme brulee waffle. This waffle was so creamy and delicious that you must get yourself to Bruxie ASAP to try this. The creamy creme brulee filling won't dissapoint.

Service - 5

Taste/Quality - 4 to 5 (depending on waffle)
Ambiance/Decor - 3
Cleanliness - 5

Bruxie
292 North Glassell Street
Orange, CA 92866

Crissy's Birthday

2011-09-04T00:27:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we celebrated my friend Crissy's birthday at a local sushi restaurant. It has become a tradition that my roommates and I bake a cake for everyone's birthday. We always try to top each cake from the previous one by making it as "fancy" as possible with the limited tools we have as students. We used a chocolate cake recipe my rommate, Vicky, found online. The frosting resembled a meringue.

We tried to make the cake cute with chocolate shavings.

Crissy excited for her cake.

My slice.

When not given enough forks at a sushi restaurant, use chopsticks.

My delicious salmon hand roll.

Some other sushi we enjoyed.

First!

2011-09-03T20:51:00.000-07:00

Hello Interwebs!

Welcome to my blog. This blog will be focused mainly on cooking and food adventures, but is definitely not limited to just that if something else sparks my interest.

I'm a full time student that loves to cook and loves to eat. It was during my 2nd year of college that I realized how much I enjoyed cooking and baking. I was no longer living at home or in the dorms, so I had to fend for myself. I loved to see what I could come up with each day and liked sharing my creations with others. I've never been taught how to cook, but watching The Food Network is one of my favorite things to do in my free time and is a great teaching tool. I was encouraged to start this blog by my current roommates. Friends have always complimented my cooking, but sometimes I can't tell if they're just being nice. I hope not, for the sake of my readers =P.

Family is the most important thing in my life. That being said, wherever there is family; there is food. I can't count the weekends I spent at my grandparents' house when I was a kid. Everyone would meet up there over the weekend and we would eat til our bellies were content. Family parties are always the most fun and with the best food.

Being from an asian background, my family often doesn't express their love verbally, but in other ways. Food has always been a way to show someone you care. Whether from making someone their favorite dish, or how my mom still insists on cooking me potfuls of food to eat when i'm away from home even when i tell her not to. It's a love thing. I find myself with a similar mindset when cooking and sharing my food with others.

Although I do not write reviews on Yelp, it is probably my most visited website behind Facebook and YouTube. I love finding new places to eat and sharing these experiences with my friends and family. I'm on an endless journey to find the best of everything. When getting together with friends, the best times are shared over a good meal with good company.

I hope my blog will encourage others to share their food and their love.